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May 2007

In this issue
-- "Emily Room" Reverts to Former Arrangement
-- We'd Love to Know: How do you read an Emily Dickinson Poem?
-- Nineteenth-Century Children's Circus Back again this Year
-- Final Week of Dickinson-Inspired Art Exhibit
-- Emily Dickinson's Amherst Exhibit Opens at Amherst History Museum

Greetings!

Greetings from the Emily Dickinson Museum!

"Emily Room" Reverts to Former Arrangement
When Martha Dickinson Bianchi and later, the Hampsons, lived in The Evergreens, Emily Dickinson's work was already finding its way into the libraries of poetry lovers. The first Dickinson enthusiasts began making pilgrimages to Amherst and the poet's home in the early twentieth century.

In 1916, when Martha sold the Homestead, she lost a window into her aunt's world and looked for another way to tell Dickinson's story. By moving Emily's furniture and other belongings over to The Evergreens and displaying them in a first-floor bedroom, she created the precursor to the Emily Dickinson Museum. Admirers would stop by The Evergreens to hear Martha's stories and see Dickinson artifacts on display in what soon became known as the "Emily Room."

During the latter part of the twentieth century, the room went through many changes. Martha's efforts to share her aunt's story, however, became an important part of the Dickinson history. In May 2007, the Emily Dickinson Museum reopened the "Emily Room" so that it better represents the room where Martha originally introduced Emily Dickinson to the world.


We'd Love to Know: How do you read an Emily Dickinson Poem?
The Museum is currently hard at work designing a new website that we hope will be a treasure trove of information on Emily Dickinson - both for the poetry novice as well as the Dickinson scholar. We'd love to share people's advice on the best way to approach an Emily Dickinson poem for the first time.

Click here to answer a few easy questions about how you read Dickinson's poetry. There are no wrong answers, and be sure to indicate whether we can share your name and hometown when we publish your answers online this fall.

Tell us how you read a Dickinson poem


Nineteenth-Century Children's Circus Back again this Year
On Saturday, July 7 at 1 p.m., in connection with Amherst Day, the Emily Dickinson Museum will once again host "Creatures of Bliss and Mystery," a children's circus reminiscent of the ones Emily's niece and nephews would have put together at The Evergreens for themselves and their friends. Families will enjoy the summer weather and children's amusements, including magician Robert Olson. Rain date is Sunday, July 8.

See more Museum events including July's Poetry in the Garden Series


Final Week of Dickinson-Inspired Art Exhibit
Emily Dickinson Rendered, the first of three Wave Hill exhibitions to explore nineteenth-century nature writers, will close May 25, 2007. Wave Hill, a public garden and cultural center in Bronx, New York, is showcasing the work of ten contemporary artists who have been influenced by Dickinson's observations about nature. Multi-media work is presented by Francis Cape, Lesley Dill, Peter Edlund, Valerie Hammond, Brece Honeycutt, Stacy Levy, Miranda Mayer, Meridith McNeal, Eileen Neff and Marina Zurkow. The show has run since March 3.

Check out Wave Hill's exhibit


Emily Dickinson's Amherst Exhibit Opens at Amherst History Museum
Emily Dickinson's white dress goes on exhibit with the launch of the Amherst History Museum's new exhibit, Emily Dickinson's Amherst, which opened May 12. The show focuses on life in the nineteenth-century Amherst that Dickinson would have known.

Learn more about the Amherst History Museum exhibit


The Emily Dickinson Museum: The Homestead and The Evergreens is dedicated to educating diverse audiences about the poet's life, family, creative work, times, and enduring relevance, and to preserving and interpreting the Homestead and The Evergreens as historical resources for the benefit of scholars and the general public. The Emily Dickinson Museum is owned by the Trustees of Amherst College and has its own Board of Governors, which is charged with the responsibility of raising the Museum's operating and capital funds. The Museum is a member of Museums10, a collaboration of 10 museums in the Pioneer Valley. To find out how you can support the Emily Dickinson Museum, click here.



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